


A Cause not Worth Dying for

by MLake867



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Crack, Gen, Lampshade Hanging
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-21 17:28:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14289798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MLake867/pseuds/MLake867
Summary: A uninvited Kryptonian-Valerian Hybrid chats with Astra after she is tortured. Possible follow up chapters.





	1. Our Security Sucks

When Alex, Kara, and Hank returned from the prisoner exchange they were all pretty happy. Things had gone much better than they expected. On the way, Astra had asked Alex for a contact number to discuss a possible truce with pardons and help assimilating for her people and some others that she trusted from Fort Rozz. Non had planned an ambush, but Astra called it off saying “do not mistake my compassion for weakness, but until we get a chance to talk about a truce, my people will not attack yours unless you attack us first.”

General Lane and his men had packed up and left. The DEO still didn’t know what Astra was planning, but they were in high spirits until Susan Vasquez called them over to the monitors, saying, “There is something you need to see.”

“I was saving video of Lane torturing Astra in case we need leverage on him later.”

“Leverage?”

“Yeah, the laws and treaties banning torture apply to all people, they don’t say ‘all humans’ and they don’t specifically exclude aliens. They also aren’t limited to legitimate POWs. What went on in there, torturing an alien terrorist for information, is still a war crime. But that’s not why I called you over. I watched a few minutes after Lane and his goons left. Take a look.” They all looked at her. "Night classes at law school" she said. 

Vasquez had different views of Astra’s cell room with Astra lying on the floor in the cell. The time stamp was just after the strike force had set out for Astra's trap. A girl with long black hair, in a DEO uniform, walked into Astra’s room on the screen displaying the view from the camera above the doorway. Her face isn’t in the shot. Alex looks at the other screens for her face, then looks confused. In every view of the room, Astra is lying on the floor of the cell, but the girl doesn’t show up on any of the other cameras. “Is there something wrong with the synchronization of the camera views?” she asked.

Vasquez replied, “nope. Checked them myself, three times. Plus the movements of Astra, Lane, and his men all synced up across cameras. The only one that doesn’t match is our mystery girl. Hey, do you remember that smuggled shipment of multiphasic cameras we captured about 6 months back, the ones that could see Valerians? Remember you complained about the hassle of adapting them to our existing systems anywhere but the Valerian approved holding cells? You know, because Valerians were too strong for the cages in the Kryptonian cells, since they aren’t affected by the kryptonite emitters. Remember how I bet you that we’d probably need the cameras at some point in the next five years?” Alex closed her eyes, “let me guess, I owe you a steak dinner.”

“With all the fixings.”

“So the girl is Valerian?”

“I haven’t watched the whole thing, but we haven’t got to a face shot yet. Still, I don’t know any other race that doesn’t show up on camera. The only evidence we have of her outside of this camera is the locker room door opening and closing on its own a few times when no one was in it. I sent Agent Price to investigate how she could have gotten past the guard at the front door.”

On the screens, Astra looked up at the girl.

“Come to gloat over me while your fellows are out attacking my base, human?” She asked, glaring.

Alex said, “either in disguise or not a Valerian then, no one is going to mistake one of them for human if their face is visible.”

The girl turned down the kryptonite emitters then went back to facing Astra from the front of the cell. Vasquez told them, “she may have said something, but the only multiphasic camera we have is visual only and points at the cell from above the door, so we can’t hear her or even read her lips.”

Astra relaxed a bit and said, “thank you. If you think it’s a trap why not warn them?”

The girl's head moved slightly, probably because she was talking. Alex said, “Astra doesn’t seem to know her, so how did she know it was a trap?”

Astra spoke sharply and stood up to look down on the girl “Kara is an only child, she doesn’t have a sister. And who _are_ you, human?”

Alex said, “Oh, crap.”

Astra said “The brave one?”

Alex said, “that bitch just outed us to Astra.”

At this point the girl flew up to stand on air, putting her eye to eye with Astra. Everyone jerked back from the screen.

Alex said, “Hank, can Valerians fly?”

Hank said “No, and to anticipate your next question, I don’t know of a race that can fly and doesn’t show up on normal cameras. Perhaps one or both of those abilities are technological rather than inborn.”

Astra stepped back, then smiled, “And the other three-quarters are Kryptonian?”

Kara said, “she must have told her she is a quarter Valerian.”

The girl spoke for a minute, then turned to face the multiphasic camera. She appeared to be a Caucasian human with green eyes, pale enough to suggest Valerian ancestry. She stuck her tongue out at the camera before turning back to Astra.

“Cocky little shit. Why would she want to give us such a clear view of her face? Maybe she is disguising her real face somehow?” Alex asked rhetorically.

Astra looked thoughtfully at the girl and asked her something in Kryptonese, Kara translated “she’s asking her what House she is from and how old she is.”

The girl apparently spoke for a while, gave a full flourishing bow, and then landed.

Astra frowned and spoke, Kara translated “she is asking her if she has proof of something.”

The girl spoke briefly, then pulled out a spy beacon. Alex asked “Were those things common on Krypton? That’s the second one we’ve seen today.” Kara replied, “pretty rare actually. They were very expensive and usually reserved for the military and, well, actual spies.”

Astra said something else in Kryptonese, Kara translated, “she’s describing how the beacons work. I don’t understand this. She said that a matching beacon can’t be faked or duplicated and that my matching beacon was destroyed with Krypton. She’s right about both. Then she told the girl that if whatever the girl just said was true, that the beacon the girl is handing her would work together with hers, after basically saying it’s impossible. You know, I didn’t think of it when Astra showed us her beacon, earlier, but what kind of lousy security do we have in this place that left an unknown device in the hands of a prisoner?” Hank had the decency to look embarrassed.

The girl handed Astra the beacon through the food slot of the cell. Astra pushed the button on the girl’s beacon, which lit up. Then she pulled out her own beacon; her glowing beacon. She touched them together and the glow stopped. She sank to the floor and passed the girl’s beacon back to her. Kara said, “that shouldn’t have worked.” Astra spoke and Kara translated “she is asking the girl why she is here.” After the girl appeared to speak at length, Kara said “Whatever she just said must not have been helpful, Astra just asked her more specifically what she is doing in that room.”

The girl spoke a bit and her shoulders drooped. Astra said something forcefully, Kara translated, “Astra is saying the world is facing destruction through environmental collapse and her group is trying to save it. Same story she gave us.”

The girl spoke as her shoulders slumped further. Then Astra spoke again.

Kara said “Astra just said ‘what’s the biggest.’”

Alex, the eternal optimist, said, “great, that sounds as though our mystery girl just told her there are bigger threats out there than the environmental one Astra is fighting about. Is that why Astra wants a truce?”

After the girl spoke again, Kara paused the replay and translated Astra’s response, “she says she won’t help the girl with something but she won’t seek vengeance for it either. Astra will think about calling a truce. She’s also asking how the girl has so much kryptonian blood.”

Hank and Alex exchanged a look. Hank said, “that’s ominous; the only things Astra would be seeking vengeance for would be for harming one of her people or harming you, Kara. She may have just declared open season on you.”

Vasquez hit play again. Whatever the girl said next left Astra visibly shaken. Kara said “I’ve almost never seen Aunt Astra like that. What Astra said was just an indication of surprise.” The girl got the last word, then left the room, smiling.

Vasquez said, “the time she left is shortly before the second time someone who doesn’t show on cameras seems to have gone into and out of the locker room.”

Agent Price came in from the direction of the base’s front door carrying a sign in sheet. He said, “the guard at the door said only one unknown woman came in today, a legal assistant for General Lane. Lane had ordered him to just check IDs and get a sign in from Lane’s people because of the emergency. She apparently had ID that matched her face and signature, because he let her in. It is probably an alias, but she signed in under the name ‘Astrid Samlet.’”

At this point Kara let out a giggle. Alex glanced at her, “is that a fictional character or something?”

Kara said, “No. But it’s definitely an alias. Aside from the first name sounding like ‘Astra,’ um, you know I learned Norwegian last year?” Alex nodded. Kara continued “Well, ‘Astrid’ means ‘divine strength’ and ‘Samlet’ means ‘together.’”

Alex groaned, “so she literally used your House motto as an alias? And apparently had false ID ready with that alias” Kara nodded. “Does it bother anyone else how much this person knows about us when we know next to nothing about her?”


	2. Comedic Flair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A flower delivery goes badly for Non.

After locking up the White Martian, Kara held a game night at her place. Winn arrived early and seemed very down when she let him in. “I just met your new neighbor” he said. Of course Kara already knew a lot about her. Her name was Esther Noble; she was of medium height, blonde with chocolate brown eyes. She was an artist. She hadn’t said what kind, but Kara suspected she designed slogan buttons and other flair, since she always seemed to be wearing at least one or two and rarely wore the same one twice. She was quiet and never had people over or played the stereo, which Kara’s super-hearing appreciated. Kara said, “Esther? She seemed nice.”

Winn said, “yeah, that’s what I thought at first. She gave me this big smile, seemed very excited to meet me. When she saw my E3 shirt she asked me what I thought of the latest tech toys there. I thought she was into me or at least receptive, so I started some mild flirting. Then she got this horrified look on her face, muttered something about her life being a bad Futurama episode and bolted into her apartment. I’m still not sure what I did wrong, I wasn’t rude or sleazy about it.”

Kara sympathized, and said, “Not everybody likes flirting, especially when they are alone with a stranger. She may have had bad experiences with guys not backing off when she wasn’t interested.” Winn nodded at that, and put it out of his mind. The game night was a big success and Kara didn’t really think anything else about her new neighbor over the next few weeks.

A tired Kara, after dealing with the Bizarro incident, flew into her apartment through the large open window. Before she was even inside, she smelled a horrible burnt plant smell. She looked at her living room area to see her next door neighbor holding Astra’s husband Non down on the charred remains of her coffee table. Non’s kryptonite shield was shattered into pieces and he was apparently unconscious. Esther was carefully slitting his throat with the kryptonite dagger Astra had taken from Hank months before. Kara yelled “Esther, what the hell are you doing?”

Esther turned around to look at Kara, while still sitting on the unconscious and rapidly bleeding-out Non. Heightening her bizarre appearance and actions, the slacks and collared shirt she was wearing were covered top to bottom, back and front in hundreds of buttons, mostly an inch or so across. What could be seen around spots of Non’s blood included everything from political campaigns (both sides in some cases), to pictures of kittens to cute, or in some cases disturbing, phrases. Kara recognized one from the Evil Overlord’s list, “I will not gloat over my enemies' predicament before killing them.”  However, the most prominent button, at her collar was an inch thick, three inch across green K in a red circle and slash “no” symbol, both in brightly lit LEDs. Esther smiled a little too broadly at her while her hand was moving up and down behind her back continuing to plunge the knife into Non. Kara absently noticed that one of Esther’s eyes was still chocolate brown, while the other was an almost milky green.

Since Non was plainly dead at this point, Kara decided to keep her distance from the kryptonite and talk Esther down rather than attacking. She activated her com to put in an emergency call to the DEO so they would know what was going on and hopefully get agents there quickly.

Esther said, “Hi, you must be Supergirl. You are probably wondering what I am doing in Kara Danvers’ apartment with this poor suicide victim. Of course, since you know my name and I’ve never met you, Kara must have told you to expect me. I’m her neighbor and was in here to accept a plant delivery,” she gestured to the table behind her and sure enough, the burnt remains of a large plant were lying on what was left of the coffee table, under Non’s body.

Kara looked at her and said “suicide victim?” In the dry tones of someone who was not buying a word of what she was hearing. “Esther, you’re still stabbing the man as we speak.” Esther abruptly stopped stabbing Non, leaving the knife in his chest.

“OK, assisted suicide then. I mean the guy came after me, a -um- poor, helpless Earthian, uh, human, while carrying the one thing that he was vulnerable to and protected from it only by a single, big, prominent, lit up kryptonite radiation shield haphazardly stuck onto his outfit. I mean, clearly, having your only protection from being debilitated by mere proximity to your own weapon be something that can be shattered by a punch from a completely ordinary human, like me, is a form of suicide.”

Kara, mainly to stall for time at this point said, “don’t you think that’s the pot calling the kettle black considering your own shield is a big, lit up ‘no green K’ button? By the way, I’ve seen shields like Non was wearing take a hit from a low caliber bullet without a scratch.”

“What? This? It’s not an anti-kryptonite shield. It’s a, um, a ketamine awareness button… anti-ketamine, of course. Besides, it’s hidden in plain sight by the rest of my flair. Those must have been very low quality bullets you were using, since I punch exactly as hard as the average, normal human of my size and gender.”

Kara, struggling to keep a straight face said, “Please tell me you don’t seriously expect me to believe any of this.”

“I believe it was Baron Munchhausen who said ‘If anyone doubts my veracity, I can only say that I pity his lack of faith.’ Oh, I forgot about your plant, a black mercy I think he called it. Which, in the language of flowers, means ‘I’m a psycho and want you dead.’ When it got here it looked cold so I tried to heat it up… with one of those kitchen blowtorches… because I totally don’t have heat vision. I subsequently misplaced the blowtorch, so do let Kara know if you find it, because, you know, she’s a separate person and all. I also lost a contact, but you can just toss that if it turns up. Anyway, he (Non, was it?) was really sad when the plant caught fire or maybe because I didn’t have any money to tip him, which lead to his tragic suicide. Which actually worked out because I was able to put the fire out… by smothering it with Non.”

“Right. So, Esther Noble? I liked the name Astrid Samlet better.”

“Thanks, I mean, who? Listen, I’ve gotta fly, metaphorically speaking and not at all literally, of course. Enjoy the presents I left for you in my apartment. Tell Kara, ‘sorry about the mess’” Esther stood up from Non’s corpse. Kara quickly blasted her “no green K” badge with heat vision, destroying it. Esther staggered a little away from the table and said “Hey! That was rude and pointless. I told you it wasn’t an anti-kryptonite shield.”

“Yeah, well like everything else you’ve said tonight, that was a lie.”

“’Lie’ is such an ugly word. I admit; almost everything I said was a joke… but that wasn’t.” Esther, protected by the kryptonite shields in every single other piece of flair she was wearing, blurred toward the knife, then toward Kara at almost Kryptonian speeds. Between the element of surprise and the kryptonite, Kara couldn’t react in time. In a tenth of a second, Kara found her cape duct taped to her kitchen table, with the kryptonite knife wrapped and taped in the far end of the cape, close enough to leave her momentarily stuck there while she worked her cape loose from her costume, but far enough to have no serious effects on her. When the DEO agents, with Hank, arrived a few minutes later, Esther was long gone. Hank unwrapped the duct tape from her cape with a happy, “hey, I got my knife back” then handed Kara a note that had been taped to her cape next to the knife. It read “Supergirl, February 8th of 2016, cape stuck to furniture. NO CAPES!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses about what Futurama episode?


	3. Presents of Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara opens the presents her neighbor left behind.

Just after Non’s death, Alex received a call from Astra with a warning that the Fort Rozz prisoners were aligning into factions with a majority supporting a truce and pardons while a minority supported Non’s call for continuing their plans for conquest. Astra told Alex that she had discovered that Non was planning to attack Kara with a black mercy to distract Astra while Non started a coup. Alex reassured her that Non was dead, the black mercy destroyed, and Kara was safe. Alex did not want Astra to know that the DEO knew about Astrid/Esther so she didn’t provide further details. Astra assured Alex that with Non dead, the truce faction would be strengthened, but that individual prisoners might desert the group and make their own attacks. They arranged for Non’s body to be turned over for funeral rites as a gesture of goodwill.

The DEO cleaned and searched Kara's apartment. They found a Supergirl keychain with apartment keys to Kara’s apartment and “Esther’s” apartment. They also found Esther’s missing contact, one that would change her eye color to brown. The lab would run tests on it.

After both Kara’s x-ray vision and the DEO’s best equipment gave Esther’s apartment a clean bill of health regarding kryptonite, explosives, traps, etc. she and Alex examined the large box in House of El emblem wrapping paper. The card read “From: Esther G. Noble.” The “to” section was in Kryptonese. Kara translated. “It says ‘To Kara Zor-El, the Head of the House of El,’ then lists all six of my personal official titles. Astra knew them from Krypton, but I don’t know why she would tell anyone, they’re meaningless now. Kal probably has it in the records in his fortress too. No one else is likely to know them. We’ve never talked about this, because like I said, it’s meaningless now, but as the eldest surviving member of the House of El, I am officially the ‘Head’ of the house.”

“What about Clark?” Alex interrupted.

“The rules are older than our knowledge of the phantom zone, so they go by actual birth date. I am counted the eldest. The funny thing is that before it says ‘Head’ it has these crossed out letters. OK, these crossed out letters are the first three in our word for ‘Matriarch.’ But I would only be called 'Matriarch' if I already had children. So whoever Esther is, she doesn’t have a firm grasp on what the rules are.”

“Hmm. Well, let’s open it up.”

On opening the box they found a number of smaller packages with post-it notes identifying the contents. There was a package with a note saying “Evil Overlord List #27. I will never build only one of anything important. All important systems will have redundant control panels and power supplies. For the same reason I will always carry at least two fully loaded weapons at all times.” The note went on to say “These shields protect against effects of external kryptonite of all colors, including red. In presence of kryptonite, they will beep at frequencies only audible to kryptonians.” The package contained several kryptonite shields and chargers for the shields. Most of the shields were in the shape of the El emblem. Some were designed for attaching where the cape joined the costume, and a couple were belt buckles. Rather embarrassingly, some were disguised as the elastic of a half dozen pairs of panties with small kittens on them.

“Well, you can’t say they don’t know your taste,” said Alex, pointing at the kittens as Kara blushed.

The box also contained a homemade pamphlet titled: “Fortress Security for Dummies.” It had a picture of the interior of the Fortress of Solitude on the cover, Kelex was in the picture wearing a bikini t-shirt. Opening the pamphlet revealed numbered rules:

  1. It’s only ok to leave the key under the doormat if you have an alarm system that texts you when someone breaks in. Anyone strong enough to pick up that key could just break in anyway. With the alarm at least you know someone broke in. In case you’re wondering, the Fortress will now text you if someone breaks in. It will also send video clips of what the intruder is doing.
  2. Palm DNA readers that just need any hand plus DNA of an authorized user are centuries out of date, I’m pretty sure even the humans can already do better. I have no idea why that is the default security protocol, since someone could come directly from killing you and activate it because your actual blood is on their hands. I upgraded that by adding the full body DNA scanner with automatic disintegration of anyone who tries that old trick.
  3. OK, this isn’t Fortress security, but, you have very dangerous people on your side who are vulnerable to mind control. Maybe you should have them wear neural shields at all times. Built in to the costumes so they can’t just be casually knocked off would be good.
  4. Don’t use the default security codes. Seriously, have a talk with Kal about not using “Admin” and “password.” Sure, he grew up a farm boy, but a reporter should know better. Do it on a router and someone could screw with your internet connection, do it on a Kryptonian fortress and they could set the automatic defenses to attack you. I changed the username to “farmboy” and the password to “lois’s bitch.”



Alex laughed and said. “I shouldn’t laugh, because she obviously knows who Clark is too, but he kind of is Lois’s bitch.”

The last thing in the box was a pocket sized colorful bag that looked like a bag of cough drops. It was printed in Kryptonese and English. Kara read “‘Anti-Kryptonite Chelation Chewies. Take one for relief from symptoms of Kryptonite exposure. Potsticker flavored. Warnings: For Kryptonians only, toxic to humans. For use after removal of kryptonite, will not protect against ongoing exposure. Use before,’ this date doesn’t make sense. The year is in the 200s, not the 2000s, it’s not an earth date, but the number of months is more than the Kryptonian calendar had.” Kara said. Anyway the manufacturer says my House Emblem then, in English, ‘Corp.’ I guess out loud that would be ‘El Corp’ “

Alex said “Don’t eat those until we analyze them.”

Kara, who had been about to put one in her mouth, stuck it back in the bag and said “I wasn’t going to.”

* * *

A few weeks later, after Winn's visit to the DEO to stop Indigo, Alex and Kara were at dinner when Alex got a call from the lab telling her that the results from the contact lens had a new match. She had the results sent to her phone. After reading them over she called back and said, “We’re heading in to the DEO, pick him up, black bag him, and get him in an interrogation room.”

Kara said, “what’s going on?”

Alex said, “we’re going to have a talk with your friend Winn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I borrowed the idea of Kara wearing panties with small kittens on them from an adorable fanfic:  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/9230072/chapters/20932859

**Author's Note:**

> I'm happy to take suggestions (for story or tags) or constructive advice. If someone wants to co-write the story, let me know and we'll talk. The violence warning is for later chapters.


End file.
